January 27, 2021 — Los Angeles
AJC Los Angeles Regional Director Richard S. Hirschhaut interview with Silvia Foti was a poignant reminder that an honest reckoning with history can help to ensure a more truthful and just world.
Click here to view a recording of the conversation.
Click here to read Ms. Foti’s searing Op-Ed which appeared in the print edition of the New York Times today.
Silvia Foti’s mother was dying. Wanting to preserve family history, Silvia’s mother asks her to write a book about Foti’s grandfather, Jonas Noreika, a famous WWII hero. Foti’s grandmother tries to intervene – begging her granddaughter not to write about her husband. “Just let history lie,” she whispered. Foti had no idea that in keeping her promise to her mother, her discoveries would bring her to a personal crisis, unearth Holocaust denial, and expose an official cover-up by the Lithuanian government that resulted in an internationally-followed lawsuit.
